Application deflation system and method

Abstract

A customized library management method and system generates a customized class library needed for executing an application in a client system. In response to an identification of a given application, the server determines the appropriate classes and methods to include in a library to be sent to the client based on certain parameters. The customized class library includes classes that are required by the application and that are not yet loaded on the client. The requested application and the customized class library are then transmitted to the client for execution. Within a customized class library management system, a client system can deflate, delete and regenerate applications and class libraries in accordance with resource requirements of the client and other criteria.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 862,412, entitled “Customized Library Management System”, filed concurrently herewith and assigned to the Assignee of the present application.TECHNICAL FIELD[0002]The invention relates generally to loading of software in a computer system, and more particularly to deflating applications in an execution environment of a computer system.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]A client computer system can request an application from a server computer system. Such a request can be transmitted remotely, such as via the Internet, or issued locally, such as within local area network. In a runtime system, the requested application may depend on classes, methods, data fields, and resources created by other developers. These classes, methods, data fields, and resources may be referred to as “types” and are often packaged together with other types into collections called “libraries”. In exi...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention provides a customized library system to minimize wasted resources on a client system. The system can generate customized libraries associated with a requested application and a target client. When available client resources decrease to a point where additional desired applications and libraries cannot be loaded on the client system, a deflation module deletes a portion of the application to free up more client resources. The deflation module can also selectively delete any libraries or individual types on which the application and associated types were dependent, provided no other loaded application or type remains dependent on these types. The invention allows for efficient use of client resources and reduces the size of the application installed on the client system.

Problems solved by technology

As such, the unneeded types in a library can waste system resources when the entire library is loaded on a client system.

In addition, distributing a library to a client system can require considerable bandwidth.

For example, if a client system downloads via the Internet an application and associated libraries on which the application depends, the download time and the network resources required to perform the download are often nontrivial.

Furthermore, the library or individual types within the library may already be loaded on a client system, which makes the downloading of the entire static library to the client unnecessary.

Furthermore, as resources within the client system become limited, a user traditionally must selectively delete files, including applications and libraries, from the client system to make room for new applications and libraries.

However, it is difficult for a user to determine which applications and libraries are expendable.

As such, it is difficult for a user to keep track of the dependencies required to safely delete unwanted libraries without disabling an essential application.

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